One
of the priorities of the Human Rights Defender’s activities is the protection
of human rights in the armed forces, including servicemen and their family
members. The Defender's Office has the necessary professional capacities to
monitor the protection of human rights by the competent authorities and
officials in the armed forces.
Since
2016, a specialized Department of Criminal Procedure and Protection of Rights
of Military Servicemen has been established within the Office of the Defender.
Already in 2017, the Division for the Protection of the Rights of Military
Servicemen and Their Family Members has been established, which is a
specialized unit of the General Department of Criminal Justice and Protection
of the Human Rights in the Armed Forces.
The
Defender protects the citizens’ rights associated with compulsory military duty
at all stages, such as military registration and conscription, the course of
military service, reserve. For example, questions related to the health
condition of conscripts, disciplinary rights and social guarantees are a
subject to Defender's consideration.
The
main directions of the Ombudsman's work in this area are issues related to the
state of human rights in the armed forces, problems in the field, including
those related to the practical and legislative shortcomings. They are being
revealed based on received complaints, unannounced visits to the military
institutions, as well as the publications of NGOs and media.
In
order to improve the legislation in this area, drafts of laws and other legal
acts, proposals on the submitted draft legal acts which are sending for the
opinions, as well as applications and special positions (amicus curia) are
submitting to the Constitutional Court. If necessary, special submissions are
drawn up as a third-party involvement with the complaints to the ECHR against
Armenia and to be submitted to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of
Europe at the execution stage of the ECHR judgments.
The
body assisting the Defender is the Expert Council on the Rights of Military
Servicemen, which includes representatives of NGOs, lawyers, as well as
independent experts in the field of psychology and sociology.
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